Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

Tags: Heaven, religion, entrance, joke, the one true religion, pearly gates. Add Tags

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SplendensPluviaNemus said, 22 days ago

I wonder if they can choose after they die.
somebodyshort said, 22 days ago

Wiley, you have a whicked sense of humour.
WoodEye said, 22 days ago

I think I get it… there is no WRONG religion. It’s all the same.
marjancek said, 22 days ago

I really liked this one.
As for the meaning; it’s pretty obvious.
It’s not about the religion you followed, or even if you were and atheist.
wndrwrthg said, 22 days ago

Man created god in his own image.
farren said, 22 days ago

Oh, yeah? Which one was that - the Asian image, the African image, the Eskimo image, the Aborigine image, the Pygmy image, the European image? Huh? Which? Funny, y’all don’t look Jewish.
Mohawk20 said, 22 days ago

Actually, it’s not so deep, as the sign pointing to the ‘Right religion entrance’ points to the right, and the other one points to the left.

But even if you go deeper, only the ones with the right religion would get into heaven, so people with the wrong religion wouldn’t be there, and thus the entrance stays unused.
larryscountry said, 22 days ago

Everybody is certain that their religion is the “RIGHT” religion!
richardelguru said, 22 days ago

Actually, it strikes me that the one thing all religions seem to agree on is that every other religion is the wrong one. That’s probably the only thing they all get right.
NebulousRikulau said, 22 days ago

I am quite certain that practically every religion has a lot Right.
I am equally certain that EVERY religion has something basically wrong.

I Believe, but I don’t Know.
harryrkeast said, 22 days ago

Reminds me of the joke about the walled in section of heaven. A new arrival on a tour asks St. Peter, “Who’s in there?” St. Peter replies, “Oh, that’s the (insert but-of-joke religion followers here). They think they’re the only ones up here.”
wdgnas said, 22 days ago

“never really understood religion, cept it seems a good excuse to kill’… ten years after-rock and roll music to the world.
Richard said, 22 days ago

Just another slice of wry.
Wildcard24365 said, 22 days ago

Could have used one more option: “Not really sure if this is the ‘right’ religion.”
Musmo said, 22 days ago

Brilliant! “Conversations with God” is a must read, whatever your beliefs [or lack of] are.
CARLTON BROWN said, 22 days ago

This needs to go in the pantheon of cartoons. So little ink, so much said.
pearlandpeach said, 22 days ago

mohawk, you don;t get the joke…as larryscounrty says..everyone thinks theirs is the right religion. there is no wrong religion.
cdward said, 22 days ago

richardelguru wrote: “it strikes me that the one thing all religions seem to agree on is that every other religion is the wrong one.”

Generalizations are always dangerous. I can assure you that, right or wrong, there are many religious groups that do not think theirs is the only path. Rather, they believe theirs is the part of the big picture that they can grasp and that, in the end, we’ll all get where we need to be. For those who say “God is Love,” for example, the likelihood is that those who love, regardless of religion, will enter into that while those who don’t – well who knows?

As to religion being an excuse to kill, I disagree. Yes, it is often used as an excuse, but that’s not the reason. The reason, whether disguised as religion or the search for “security” or “Lebensraum” is ultimately power. Anything can be used as an excuse - that doesn’t make it the reason.
steverino said, 22 days ago

The Great Spirit giveth, and the Great Spirit taketh away…

The Great Spirit is an Indian giver.
congraveb said, 22 days ago

When exactly did truth become subjective and no longer
objective???
prrdh said, 22 days ago

I second what cdwardscissorhands said about the ‘one right way’ question. There are plenty of people who recognize the fact that it’s a very poor truth that has only one set of clothes.

On the ‘excuse to kill’ question, I see it as *an* excuse, or if you like a ‘good reason’ to kill, but almost never the real reason. The real reason behind most killing is the desire to control resources seen necessary to one’s survival or that of one’s children. Religion is one of many group loyalties used to tell ‘us’ (the people those resources “really” belong to) from ‘them’. What is pathetic to me is that this is so often done in the name of prophets for whom there was no ‘them’.
Matthew Humphreys said, 22 days ago

I’ve always said the comics are the best part of the newspaper. This proves me right again.
benjy77 said, 22 days ago

Magnificent - it is quite humorus to ridicule the rigid righteousness of the simple.
Takiniteasy said, 22 days ago

I think the act of believing is at least as important as what you believe… I think… I believe.
wndrwrthg said, 22 days ago

farren: in answer to your questions,
yes.
exoticdoc2 said, 22 days ago

Dream on, Mr. Miller. The truth is real and knowable.
WindSpider said, 22 days ago

Believe in Belief in itself…the paradigm through which you choose to manifest you’re belief…is irrelevant.
Nothing is True…everything is permitted .
Ramen.
Jerry36 said, 22 days ago

No one has mentioned that the “wrong religion” entrance has a much shorter line and therefore is a quicker way into heaven. That’s the larger message I’m taking away from this wonderful cartoon.
gotowest said, 22 days ago

Come on! This means ONE thing! There is no right or wrong religion, all the doors are open but people are like sheep, they love to line up in the “correct” line as they see it. Ever see two lanes of traffic to turn? People tend to line up in the longest line because they think that is the “right” lane.
Potrzebie said, 22 days ago

I’m a Taoist. The joke is that I won’t ever get to see a heaven, because we have it here on earth.
DanTanner said, 22 days ago

The joke is that there is no heaven and no creator.
michellepiotrovna said, 22 days ago

It’s pretty cut and dry. It’s about pride and ego. Take a look at all the people crammed in the “Right Religion” line with no one in the “Wrong Religion” line. No one thinks their religion is the wrong one and would actually rather wait in line to get in rather than go into the “wrong religion” line to get in sooner. What? And admit they’re wrong? If you already made it to the gates of heaven, then obviously there is no wrong religion, now is there? After all, you had to have done something right.
jml58 said, 22 days ago

There is only one God. But She uses about six billion aliases.
Ozarkjohn said, 22 days ago

Don’t know about anyone else, but I think I’d opt for the wrong religion gate….lines shorter.
Dracip said, 22 days ago

What a great comic! It’s profoundly funny. As is steverino’s little observation. That’s the Spirit! Jerry, quick on the uptake there. Looks like you could just breeze on through. It’s funny to think the “wrong” religion would get you into heaven faster…That’d cheese some people off, wouldn’t it?
KWK said, 22 days ago

I would go through the “Wrong Religion” line. It would be more fun, efficient, bold and comfortable
Ronshua said, 22 days ago
And the joke …. what’s needed is……..

re⋅li⋅gion

–noun
1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
Moral conscience !
aggirlj said, 22 days ago

Musmo, Dialogues with the Devil by Taylor Caldwell is another must read.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/952130.DialoguesWithThe_Devil
Pretty old tome but pretty good read. I actually had somewhat of an epiphany when I first read it.

I am also not so sure.
KWK said, 22 days ago

This is magnificant. It should be posted on the door of every place of worship.

It’s interesting that 99% here like the comic. I’m kinda surprised that there are not more comments from zealots denouncing the comic.
JanCinVV said, 22 days ago

jml58: there was a sci-fi story written in the 50’s called “The 9 Billion Names of God”, so you’re only off by an additional 50%.
It was written by Arthur C Clark.
plus4 said, 22 days ago

The real joke is people who think they have no “beliefs.” Everyone has faith in things they have no evidence of, and the so-called “faith-less” have some of the blindest faith on earth.

BTW, those KWK stereotypically calls “zealots” won’t be denouncing this; they’re not all so easily offended or without a sense of humor. Besides, this strip is about more than religion. The nature of humans is that no one wants to believe anything they do is wrong.
bmonk said, 22 days ago

“Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried.” - G.K. Chesterton. Maybe if we took the advice to “Love your enemy” we would not be so concerned about who is right and who wrong.
lechatboote said, 22 days ago

Your’e missing the point, it’s not the belief in religion that gets anyone in. Heaven isn’t a place it’s found in the presence of God, that’s why the entrance means nothing, rather it’s whom you believe in not what. It’s not so existential or complicated. We keep trying to layer on all this stuff and we miss the message.
Joe Allen Doty said, 22 days ago

The comic and its characters today are a joke and that’s because there is no Scriptural support for such visual nonsense.

The expression “Indian giver” was made up by those who didn’t understand how the Native Peoples made agreements.

When an agreement, or covenant, was made, certain items were exchanged to seal that covenant. The rule was, if the 1st person didn’t keep his promise to the 2nd person, the 2nd person could take his belongings back and keep what the 1st person gave him to keep for him, too.

With the broken treaties of the United States Government, the Natives could use the word “White man giver.”

The federal government took away tribal lands from the local natives in what became Indian Territory and then gave the land to Southeastern Tribes. Then they took a lot of the land back and let the European-Americans have hit.
BC13 said, 22 days ago

For all I know, both entrances could be gateways to hell.
Mary Greenslade said, 22 days ago

The right religion is based on ‘who or what your god is’….we either learn truth, compassion, courtesy, and forgiveness based on ‘that god’, or we use ‘that god’ as an excuse to put ‘me 1st’, to heck with our family, friends, and neighbors.
Jazzlily said, 22 days ago

RELIGION, (right or wrong) will NOT get you through those pearly gates. Only a personal RELATIONSHIP with the One on the other side will grant you access.
DirtyDragon said, 22 days ago

I notice that a couple of people up thread saying “there are many religious groups that do not think theirs is the only path”, but no one is pointing to an actual example of a faith that is willing to say that “Brand X” is just as righteous as their own set of beliefs/superstitions.

Kinda like political stories that are based on anonymous “well-placed sources say…” agenda pushers.
the GhostPony said, 22 days ago

If I’m going to believe in some invisible and perpetually angry man in the sky, it’s going to be Sauron. He’s much more interesting.
KWK said, 22 days ago

Hey plus4,
I hate to say, “I told you so,” but Mary Greenslade & Jazzlily are the zealots that I mentioned would show up.

Gave us a semon, are much too serious and have missed the humor of the comic.